Carp eradication plan -Science not ego

The departure of the National Carp Control Plan Coordinator has further brought into question the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government’s management of the significant taxpayer investment in the plan.

European Carp are the scourge of our waterways and their eradication remains a worthy objective. But the future of the plan must be guided by the science, not politics or ego.

Originally a Labor Government initiative, the $15 million plan was never a short-term strategy. When Barnaby Joyce decided to make himself the champion of the plan the science was still a work in progress.

The science has been clear for a long time, we need integrated management, habitat and flow restoration, genetic controls in the long term, a virus and the rotting aftermath will be devastating to our environment yet not deliver any long term reduction in carp. Will Labor commit to rescoping this project to allow non-viral biocontrol alternatives as the current scope is essentially limiting the NCCP to a virus or nothing.